Many computer systems use databases for storing and processing data. Information from such databases is typically available to users when they launch a particular application program that is configured to interact with the database, for example such that the program uses objects that include information gathered from one or more of the tables. The user can then extract information from, or input it into, the database using the functions provided by the program.
There are also other situations where a person needs access to the contents of the database. A database technician or another person with special knowledge about the system may wish to review and analyze the database and its contents to make sure it is working properly or analyze reasons for malfunction, or to gain insight into the database's structure for designing another database, to name a few examples.
There exists tools for performing such database analysis. They may, however, be associated with disadvantages. For example, the user may be required to make a complicated input each time the tool should access a new database table and display it for analysis. The amount of analysis that the user can perform may be limited due to the kind of information about the database table that the tool presents. Based on analyzing the database table, the user may wish to also investigate how an application program associated with the table at issue represents the current information. However, doing so may require the user to have expert knowledge in how to trigger the application program to perform the desired operation.